A Family Perspective

To whom it may concern,

My wife and I have written this letter as we would like to share with those concerned our experience with Remar Australia, and especially the people who run the facility at Nyora. We first met Luis and Karina when they were on, the Melbourne Water Property at Kinglake West. We want to let you know what a fantastic job they do to help people who are down and out and need help for whatever reason.

In our family as in other families who have members who are suffering from substance abuse, whether it is drugs or alcohol, we struggled for many years with our son’s drug and alcohol problem not knowing what to do or who to turn to. There were places like the Salvation Armies, Bridge and Overdale, Narcanon, Crossroads (now Foundation 41) just to mention a few who could help, however some of these places are out of the reach of the average family or persons seeking help because of the huge financial commitment required in order to get help.

These places are usually booked out and we found it very hard to get our son into these places, and as we found when he was at his lowest and wanted help you could not get in to rehabilitation facilities, as you had to wait months.

Remar Australia being a Christian charity organisation did not impose the same financial burden on the families or individuals seeking help.We found that when someone who has got a problem and wants help, they want it now, not in one, two or three months (as my wife puts it there is a small window of opportunity in which time the help is needed, if you miss this window you have lost your chance.)

It is through our own experiences and problems with our son, and my wife’s determination and mine also not to loose our son that we persevered. It was only after a number of years of trying to deal with our sons problem and seeing him go to detox centres where he stayed for a short time and then come home saying that he was on the straight and narrow, but it was not long before for whatever reason he was heading down the same old path again, this happened time after time.Five years ago we got the name of Remar from a person who worked at Crossroads in Geelong, we phoned Remar and spoke to Luis Brito who is the pastor at Remar, our son was at home and having a bad time and we tried to get to go to see Luis but as he thought he didn’t have a problem, he left home again, as has happened may times before. You see you can’t help someone no matter how much you want to as people with substance abuse problems they will not admit they have a problem.

Twelve months on and a lot of problems later my wife tried to call our son and on this rare occasion he answered his phone, he was at rock bottom as only a mother would know, and he asked for help, as he said he couldn’t go on like this. He asked his mother for help, and to call that bloke we spoke to twelve months ago, Luis. We rang and asked Luis to help us, and he said this was no problem. All that he said was that there are rules at Remar, and before going to Remar, our son had to go to Detox. (As you cannot be on any medication, or cannot smoke and there is no contact with the world outside Remar for a month.) Getting our son into Detox was our next hurdle as the system is so overloaded in this area, but with a few more calls we finally got him into Detox.

After our son was in Detox for two weeks we picked him up and took him directly to Remar, and this is where our life and that of our son made a huge U-turn. We left our son at Remar in the hands of this stranger, who we had only talked to over the phone a few times. When we arrived at Remar, Pastor Luis was not there, but his wife Karina was there to meet us, and to explain to us what was going to happen, she also told us a lot more about Remar Australia.

Our son was at Remar for two years, and thanks to Luis, Karina and the other people who have given back to us our son, but it has not been without hard work on everybody’s part. Remar is like no other rehabilitation facility we have ever heard of, for a start the rules are very strict, you must work both physically and mentally, and being a Christian Outreach Ministry you are taught values and self respect and to respect others. You were also required to work on the property, maintaining the garden, lawns and buildings, you are taught the life skills, which our son lost such as how to follow rules, routine, personal hygiene and house keeping.

We feel that without the help of Luis Brito and his wife Karina our son would have gone into the public prison system because of traffic related offences and been lost in the system. At Remar you are given the chance to change you life for the better and find a reason and purpose to live.

We would find it hard to find anyone who cares so much for people in crisis and puts in so much time in a thankless job, but Luis and Karina and the helpers do it day after day, and I have asked Luis how do you do it, his answer was with the help of God and I have come to believe it, as we have seen such a transformation in our son, although he probably has a long way to go.

To date our son has been living at home for nearly eighteen months and has gone back to work to finish his trade as a spray painter, and is very independent. Because he has not got his license back he rides his pushbike to and from work, rain hail or shine. To say that we are proud of him would be an understatement, all this is due to hard work by himself and some encourgement from his family he would be the first to admit he has not overcome all the problems but is working on it.We hope that Remar will be given a fair go at Nyora, because of their commitment to the people who need it. If you need proof of their commitment, you should spend some time at Remar on the weekends as we did at Kinglake West, and see how the love and commitment of a few people, can make a difference to a person’s life.

Since the fires destroyed all that was of the property near Whittlesea, Remar have relocated to Nyora and we still visit as often as possible because Luis, Karina and the rest of the people who help out with the work Remar are like family to us, and need not only our support but the support of everyone.

WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED AS FAMILY AT REMAR, BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE FOR MY WIFE AND I.

Location

Our Christian Drug and Alcohol Rehab is located just 93 km from Melbourne CBD in Nyora, South Gippsland. We receive people from places like Melbourne, Geelong, Frankston, Dandenong, Sunshine, Ringwood, Preston and regional Victoria.